old museum. the mission? to tell the world what the black soldiers did, to preserve the union and help make america great. karen gray houston, fox 5 news. and the news keeps coming tonight. shawn yancy is in for brian on the news edge at 11:00. the news edge is monitoring metro tonight. the transit agency is preparing for the extreme heat. metro says when it heats up, the weather can wreak havoc on the rail system and if they aren't ready that, can main manny an uncomfortable ride for you. fox -- mean an uncomfortable ride for you. fox 5's matt ackland is live at the bethesda station with the latest. >> reporter: metro says they face issues throughout the system when it heats up. today they authorized extra overtime hours during this heatwave that is approaching. that's basically to keep crews out there taking care of the escalator issues, also looking out for trains where the ac might not be working and we're also being told that there will be more track inspectors out

walking the tracks to make sure all tracks are safe during this heat. metro has been trying to tackle the problem, but still it faces numerous escalator issues each day, even more so when it gets hot outside. >> you always see that number creep up when the weather gets hot. metal expands. it has an effect on the machines. >> reporter: monday there were issues at the foggy bottom metro. although these were not heat- related, customers were sure feeling the heat waiting to climb down this escalator out of service. >> quite annoying actually, but especially when it's so warm. >> it's not fun at the end of the day. >> heatwave coming this week, so basically it's going to be hell. >> reporter: but metro is taking steps before the heatwave arrives. overtime has been approved for elevator and escalator crews to fan out across the system so they can rush to any problem. also track inspectors will be deployed to make sure the rails are safe for travel. >> looking out for heat kinks.

we'll be doing that over the week any time the temperature is over 90 degrees. >> reporter: metro also wants riders to be comfortable during travel. maintenance crews have been focusing on so-called hot cars, railcars with air conditioning problems. >> we would consider a hot car a health issue and we want to take those cars out of service. we strategically deployed car may not techs all around the system. >> reporter: back out live in bethesda, it wasn't long ago, a couple hours ago, there were some escalator issues here at this station. everything has been fixed and earlier today at the foggy bottom metro there were some problems, but it really wasn't a mechanical issue, shawn, instead a safety switch thrown and that caused the escalator to stop right before rush hour. metro officials are saying basically the escalator worked as it should. it shut off because it felt like something had happened. so automatically it shuts off until maintenance crews can come in, take a look and then start it up again.

so the next couple days will be hot but metro says they'll be keeping an eye on just about everything. >> we will be monitoring metro. matt ackland, thank you. the news edge tracking the extreme heat, sue palka inside in the weather center. at least you're inside. >> i'm very glad about that because i'm sure i'll be doing my due diligence outside showing people how hot it feels in the next several days. tomorrow won't be that bad and wednesday will be very doable, but this blazing heat we've been watching in the midwest and central part of country is going to move in our direction. you can get an idea when you look at the high temperatures today, 99 in omaha, 103 wichita, 101 dallas. we know that heat is going to move in our direction and really this is probably going affect about 3/4 of the nation with the heat warnings are expanding. these are excessive heat warnings there in red, heat advisories as well all now even pushing into ohio. the core of it is still to our west tonight and it will be

tomorrow, but that very intense heat and humidity is going to slowly expand as the jet stream allows it to move more to the east and into the east coast. the worst of it will be getting in here thursday. we are talking about triple digits. we're also talking about a chance for some storms. i'll have that forecast when i join you upstairs. a suspected serial killer in prince george's county was convicted today for other unrelated crimes. jason scott is charged with killing delores dewitt and her daughter ebony in 2009. police called him a person of interest in three other murders including a mother and daughter and another woman. today a federal jury convicted scott of more than 50 robberies, nine armed home invasions and the production of child pornography. he faces a mandatory minimum of 97 years in federal prison. a followup now to a news edge investigation. last week we showed you this video from our sister station in detroit. auto workers caught on camera chugging beer and apparently doing drugs, then heading back to work on the assembly line.

chrysler announced nine employees in this video are suspended without pay and could be fired after the investigation is complete by the company. this follows similar incidents caught on camera last fall. 13 workers were later fired. there is no rest for the senate. majority leader harry reid says his chamber will not take a day off until the debt ceiling is raised. there's little more than two weeks left until the august 2nd deadline to break the stalemate or america will default on its obligations for the first time ever. fox's mike emanuel has the latest. >> reporter: today president obama offered an update on the debt negotiations. late sunday morning after church the president met privately with speaker john boehner and house majority leader eric cantor, but no significant progress or agreement was reached. momentum appears to be building around a backup plan senate republican leader mitch mcconnell is fine tuning with senate majority leader harry reid which would allow the president to raise the debt ceiling three times for a total

of $2.5 trillion republicans opposed say they'll vote disapproval each time. it creates a new congressional committee looking into how to cut trillions more. mcconnell continues pressing for bolder change but is losing hope. >> republicans are trying to per swaled the president of the need for a course of correction -- persuade the president of the need for a course of correction, but he's shown his commitment to big government is simply too great to lead to the long term reforms we need. >> reporter: lawmakers must find a solution reid says. >> we'll stay in civic day including saturdays and sundays until congress -- session every day including saturdays and sundays until congress comes up with an agreement. >> there's more work to be done. joint committee can tackle it. >> reporter: republican senator lindsey graham faves a constitutional amendment, although -- favors a constitutional amendment, although there's not enough support in the senate.

>> 72% of the people want a balanced budgets as part of the amendment to the constitution. >> reporter: the president is opposed to that but is calling for a shared sacrifice. >> i am still pushing for to us achieve a big deal, but what i also said to the group is if we can't do the biggest deal possible, then let's still be ambitious. let's still try to at least get a downpayment on deficit reduction. >> reporter: but the co-chair of the president's own deficit commission has not been impressed by what washington is considering. president obama issued a threat to veto the cap and balance bill the house is to vote on tuesday. that seems to suggest the bipartisan plan offed by reid and mcconnell may be the more likely option for dealing with our debt. u.s. and nay toe forces in afghanistan have a new commander -- nato forces in afghanistan have a new commander. general david petraeus handed over command of the war to

marine general john allen. pet yous is returning to washington to direct the -- petraeus is returning to washington to direct the cia. today's handover comes as the u.s. starts pulling troops out of afghanistan and gradually transferring security to local forces. up next were maryland voters told to stay away from polls on election day? the robocall controversy goes to court and one of the people facing criminal charges speaks out. plus check out some of the other stories on our rundown tonight. the news edge at 11:00 is coming right back. >> this is fox 5 news edge at 11:00. 

it's been months since the last race for governor for maryland ended, but the controversy over thousands it of robocalls made election day is just heating up. two political consultants working for former governor robert ehrlich are facing

criminal charges. fox 5's laura evans reports. >> was there in any way an effort to discredit african american voters? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: julius hensick hired to work as political consultant for the ehrlich gubernatorial campaign spoke out just minutes after pleading not guilty in baltimore circuit court to charges he'd violated election laws. at issue, thousands of robocalls that went out to 112,000 residences in baltimore and prince george's county on election day. prosecutors say the recorded message was intended to keep voters away from the polls. >> i'm calling to let everyone know that governor o'malley and president obama have been successful. we're okay. we're all right. everything is fine. the only thing left is to watch it on tv tonight. >> this is something about i've been pardoned, o'malley just to punish people who disagreed with what goes on in the democratic party. >> reporter: paul shy recollect, a long timer lick --

shirek, a long timer lick aide was joined by his wife and daughter -- time ehrlich aide was joined by his wife and daughter at the arraignment. >> i am confident from the evidence i reviewed he is not involved with anything like that and i'm very comfortable taking this case and defending a person which i assume to be innocent. >> reporter: the political operatives were indicted by a baltimore grand jury last month. henson has acknowledged ordering the calls but says they weren't meant to suppress the vote. >> nothing in that call was not true. >> that was laura evans reporting. a trial date has been set for september 22. in addition to violating state election laws, shirek is accused of obstructing justice. also maryland's attorney general filed a separate lawsuit against henson seeking millions of dollars in fines for those calls. coming up find out why the acl suv jumping in the court battle between the city paper and skins owner dan snyder. take a look at this one.

what caused this scare at a music fest cal? but first an odd -- festival? but first an odd sight for drivers in australia. imagine seeing stormtroopers walking down the side of the road. jacob french dressed as a star wars character watching from perth to sydney, more than 2,500 miles. french is hoping to raise more than $50,000 for a children's charity. he is to arrive at his destination by december. we wish him luck.

the aclu is now jumping in a legal fight between redskins owner dan snyder and the washington city paper. snyder filed a defamation suit against the paper over a november, 2010 story about him. the american civil liberties union says it is filing a brief arguing that according to a new d.c. law snyder must prove quickly that the city paper knowingly published false and harmful information about him or the lawsuit will be dismissed. the paper says the article was clearly within free speech protection. a head's up for drivers in maryland and guess which smartphone was just voted the most popular? here's laura back now with your fox 5 top five. >> iphone, android or blackberry, who makes the most popular smartphone? no. 5 tonight, apple's iphone is tops according to a survey by change wave. 48% of the people surveyed said they plan to buy an iphone.

32% chose android and only 3% chose blackberry. the survey found iphone owners were the happiest with their purchases. no. 4, bad news for baby boomers, they're more obese than other generations. boomers need to stay active with some kind of aerobic exercise at least once a week. the study found boomers' most popular exercise is walking. no. 3, good news if you're buying an airline ticket. last year continental and united hiked fares 4 to $10 round trip but backed down when discount carrier southwest rolled back prices on sunday. no. 2, a commuter construction alert for southbound i-95 in maryland. it started yesterday. watch for single and double lane closures between maryland 198 and maryland 212. one lane will close starting at 7 p.m. two lanes will close at 11 p.m. and they will reopen by 6 a.m. the work will continue through mid-august. no. 1, heads up in you live in d.c.

the extreme heat means trash collection in the district will start an hour earlier this week. crews will begin at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. do remember to put out trash and recyclables the night before to make sure they're collected and that is tonight's fox 5 top five. a pretty scary scene caught on camera in canada. the stage at this outdoor concert collapsed when a violent thunderstorm swept through yesterday right during a cheap trick performance. cheap trick is a musical group. the high winds caused the stage to topple over. it felt backyards onto trailers parked behind it. at least five people were hurt. >> wow, crazy weather. i mean from scenes like that to the extreme heat in our area. >> a little climate change at work perhaps, but a strong thunderstorm like that can take down one of those temporary structures with or without climate change as part of the mix, but people will be saying

ay ya, ya by the end of the week here. tonight it's fairly quiet around d.c. i think the headline is it went up to 84 degrees at 11:00 which means it's a degree warmer than it was at 10:00. these warm nights will be part of the problem as we proceed farther into this week and it gets hotter. tonight we were watching storms up through pennsylvania and ohio. these have been long lived clusters. this one has weakened. you can see where we thought we might see something in our northern suburbs tonight, a big gap opened up. it looks like we'll get through the rest of this night storm- free. might be a different story tomorrow when a cool front comes along the mason dixon line and may produce another chance for showers and storms. over to the map because another big part of the story is when we do have thunderstorms and the heat we'll have and very high humidity, they can get pretty strong. tonight we were outlooked north of d.c. for the possibility of strong storms. tomorrow the slight risk does

slide into d.c. as that front which will not really bring us relief may be just enough to touch off stronger thunderstorms, the kind that produce damaging winds, maybe hail and certainly very heavy downpours with the available humidity in the atmosphere. for tonight we think it will be just clouds, mild, humid, 77 degrees. some places may not drop below 80. we're right back at it tomorrow into the mid-90s with scattered storms in the forecast. certainly will be hot and muggy in between storms. our temperature should be about 94 degrees. we're still keeping the worst of that heat at bay during the day tomorrow. a couple showers could be around in the morning. it's really looking like not a very good chance. by noon we could begin to see showers and storms especially west of the district. by 5:00 we'll still be monitoring for the possibility of storms, temperature of 92 degrees. we do know by now we get up to 93 degrees. we've had a lot of days in the 90s. what we're concerned about going later in the week is the possibility of back to back triple digit days. that's just the air

temperature, not just talking about the heat index which probably will be up around 117 on manufacture shows days. lots of -- on some of those days. lots of heat still across the country. this has really been confined to the middle part of the country, but it begins its expansion to the east. we'll be well above our average of 89 degrees heading for 94 tomorrow. wednesday might get a bit of brake as well, you can call 93 a break. thursday 101, friday 103 and into the weekend we could be near 100 degrees. we'll be keeping an eye on that. very quickly wanted to show you maybe by 1:00 or so we'll begin to see some showers, still around into the afternoon and evening hours. you may be happy if you get one. they will bring some relief in terms of cooler air as well. meanwhile we don't have much heat relief on this merchandise, but maybe we're getting relief in -- on this five-day forecast, but maybe we're getting some relief on that nfl lockout.

good evening. i'm lindsay murphy. there is finally a reason to be optimistic if you're a football fan. today reps for both the nfl and the players hint the end of the lockout is near. lawyers for both sides met more than eight hours today in new york. the plan is for members of the nfl players association and reps of every team to be in d.c. by wednesday for possible decisions on reestablishing union and signing off on a

tentative pact with the owners. then the owners have a league meeting in atlanta thursday when they could ratify a new agreement if there is one. the issues left on the table include the settlement of the brady versus the nfl anti-trust lawsuit and players are optimistic and eager. >> it's been a long road. it's to be expected. this is something we've been praying for for two years and, you know, with us being almost four months into this lockout it definitely feels good that we've made enough progress to be able to try to get something done. the start of training camp will be affected and ultimately we can try to recover from the damage that has been done to the game of football. >> the other seven hall of fame game is in jeopardy of being canceled due to the lockout but the hall of fame induction ceremony will take place august 6 which includes redskins

linebacker chris hamburger who played 45 seasons for the burgundy and gold, the 19th redskins player inducted. what does he have planned for his speech? >> no. i haven't. i mean i've got a few thoughts, but i'm not going to write anything out, just i guess what do they say, speak from the heart about the whole deal and wing it. >> just call it audible, right? the nationals are out in houston and really need to capitalize on this series with the astros because right now houston is the worst team in baseball dropping 15 of 19 games and the nats can use this time to climb well above .500. jason marquis trying for his eighth win of the season in control early on. bottom of the 4th he gets carlos lee looking to end the inning. marquis' shuts out four of six innings. mike morse turns on the braking ball and drives it into never neverland in left center, can't even see it.

nats up 1-0. tied at two ryan zimmerman follows up with a homer of his home, base hit to rate. roger bernadina -- to right. roger bernadina scores and the nats win 5-2. to the red sox, mark l'oreal back in the majors for the first time since 2008. 8th inning, bases loaded, justin pedroia sends a drive to the right. two runs score. the red sox play eight runs in the 8th inning and defeat the orioles 15-10. tonight your undefeated washington capitals hosting the sacramento capitals. the first match of night is mixed doubles. pays and stubbs in the far court gets the team off to a good start winning 5-4. the kastles cruise to an easy victory 25-14 and improving to 11-0 and they have towered, get, it towered over the competition. they can complete the second undefeated regular season in world team tennis history with three more victories. that's all for sports.

dave feldman is back on the desk tomorrow. we'll be right back. 

taking the edge off tonight with another invitation to the marine corps ball. mila kunis and justin timberlake will be partying with the troops, so how about another celebrity? >> i'd like to say betty white is just funny and sweet, mature. he